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Wednesday, 27 March 2013

SALE OF FOOD AID: GOVT ON DEFENSIVE

The Swaziland
Government has been forced into making a public statement for the first time
after news that it sold maize donated as food aid for hungry children in the
kingdom on the open market and deposited the US$3 million takings in a special
bank account.

News of the scandal
has circulated in media across the world over the past two weeks and the
kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III, has been criticised for taking food from the
mouths of the hungry.

In Swaziland one
in three people are officially classified as malnourished and they rely on
donated food from foreign donor agencies to stop from starving. In particular,
the maize was intended to feed people in drought stricken areas of the kingdom.

But, instead of
feeding King Mswati’s hungry subjects, the government decided to sell the maize
on the open market to raise E25 million (US$3 million). This money has been deposited
in a special account at the Central Bank of Swaziland.

The sale of
nearly 12,000 tonnes of maize raised concerns in the international donor
community because donations are expected to be used for their intended purpose.
In the past large donor agencies, such as the European Union, have stopped giving
money as ‘budget support’ to Swaziland: money that the government would be
allowed to spend as it saw fit, because it could not be trusted to spend the
money appropriately.

Instead, donor
agencies will now only fund specific projects where it is clear how the money,
or goods donated, will be used.

In the case of
the Japanese food aid, the maize was clearly intended to be used to feed the
hungry.

Now, Government
Spokesman Percy Simelane has issued a press release claiming that the sale of the
maize was not illegal.

He said the
donors, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), were aware of the
arrangement. This has not been confirmed by Japan.

Simelane stated
that it was not the first time government had sold donated items: a consignment
of fertilizer donated by the Japanese government had also been sold.

He said the
money raised was put aside to assist in developing pro-poor programmes in
agriculture. He did not say how the hungry people of Swaziland had been fed in the
absence of the maize.